Ovince St. Preux (born April 8, 1983) is a Haitian-American mixed martial artist who competes in the Light Heavyweight division for the UFC. He was well known for competing in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion, going 6–1 under that banner, in addition to competing for XFC and Shark Fights. He is currently #8 in official UFC Light Heavyweight rankings.[3]

St. Preux was born in Miami, Florida, to Haitian immigrant parents.[4] He attended Immokalee High School in Immokalee, Florida, where he wrestled, played defensive end for the football team, and ran track. As a wrestler, he compiled a record of 26-1, and was the state's 1A runner-up in his weight class. During his senior year in football, he registered 75 tackles, including a school-record 18 sacks, and was named All-State. In track, he competed in the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles, the discus throw, and the 4x400 relay.[5]

St. Preux played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2001 to 2004. After redshirting in 2001, he played primarily as a reserve at both defensive end and linebacker.[6] He earned varsity letters in 2002 and 2004, appearing in seventeen games during his college career.[7] He graduated in 2004 with a degree in sociology, and began to train in kickboxing and grappling.[8]

After two unsuccessful attempts at professional football, St. Preux gave up the sport and began to take an interest in martial arts as a form of training. St. Preux, who currently trains at Knoxville Martial Arts Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee, began to fight professionally at the suggestion of his coach.[4]

St. Preux attributes his confidence in the ring to his membership in Omega Psi Phi fraternity.[9]

Ovince's professional mixed martial arts debut came at VFC 1: Vengeance Fighting Championship against Rodney Wallace, which he lost by decision. In his second MMA match, he suffered another decision loss. His next match came against Robert Turner which he won by a brutal head kick at XFC 7: School of Hard Knox. St. Preux was a runner-up for Inside MMA's Submission of The Year for 2009 with a calf slicer against Ombey Mobley, but was beaten by Toby Imada's reverse triangle.

After knocking out UFC veteran Jason Day in eight seconds outside the Strikeforce organization, he returned to fight Antwain Britt in his second Strikeforce fight on a ShoMMA Strikeforce Challengers event. He won by unanimous decision.[11]

St. Preux competed in his third Strikeforce fight in less than seven weeks and faced Abongo Humphrey on January 7, 2011, at Strikeforce Challengers: Woodley vs. Saffiedine.[13] He won the fight via unanimous decision. This three fight series over a seven week period marked the only time a Strikeforce fighter competed on three successive shows.[14]

St. Preux faced Joe Cason on July 22, 2011, at Strikeforce Challengers: Bowling vs. Voelker III.[15] He won the fight via submission to strikes in the first round. In his post-fight interview, St. Preux asked for either Renato Sobral or Gegard Mousasi as his next opponent.

In January 2013, the Strikeforce organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa with a majority of the Strikeforce fighters being brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

For his UFC debut, St. Preux faced fellow promotional newcomer Gian Villante on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159.[17] The fight ended in unusual fashion as St. Preux accidentally poked Villante in the right eye with his thumb and referee Kevin Mulhall immediately called an end to the fight after asking Villante if he could see. As a result of the injury, the fight went to the judges' scorecards and St. Preux won a majority technical decision.[18]

For his second bout with the promotion, St. Preux faced Cody Donovan on August 17, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 26.[19] He won the fight via knockout at 2:07 in the first round.

St. Preux was briefly linked to a bout against Thiago Silva on January 15, 2014 at UFC Fight Night 35.[20] However, Silva pulled out of the bout less than 24 hours after the announcement.[21] The match against Silva was rescheduled for March 15, 2014 at UFC 171.[22] However, the rescheduled bout was cancelled on February 7, 2014 after Silva was arrested by Florida police on attempted murder charges.[23] St. Preux instead fought Nikita Krylov at the event, winning in the first round with a Von Flue choke.[24] The rare submission win also earned St. Preux his first Performance of the Night bonus award.[25]

For his fourth fight, St. Preux faced Ryan Jimmo on June 14, 2014 at UFC 174.[26] He won the fight in the second round when Jimmo verbally submitted due to a broken arm as a result of blocking one of St. Preux's kicks.

St. Preux was expected to face Rafael Cavalcante on November 8, 2014 at UFC Fight Night 56.[28] However, Cavalcante pulled out of the bout citing injury and was replaced by Francimar Barroso.[29] However, on October 29, it was announced that St. Preux would step up to replace an injured Jimi Manuwa in the main event against Maurício Rua.[30] Despite being the underdog and fighting in Rua's home country of Brazil, St. Preux won the fight via knockout just 34 seconds into the first round.[31] The win also earned St. Preux his second Performance of the Night bonus award.[32]